During a talk in Bloomington Saturday, former Sen. Richard Lugar said he was disheartened by the lack of young people who want to get involved in politics these days. He pointed to a recent poll by the Wall Street Journal. The poll found that only 10 percent of young people would like to be a mayor, while just 13 percent would like to be a member of Congress.
“This is not untypical of young people who I have visited,” Lugar said. “Government doesn’t work very well, Congress in particular is full of deficiencies; this is not something that they want to be involved in.”
This is a pervasive problem. Several times recently we have pointed out the pointless disputes that have stopped government at all levels. We have experienced a federal government shutdown. We have watched Gov. Mike Pence and State School Superintendent Glenda Ritz feud to standstills. Even the North Lawrence school board members found themselves so divided they were unable to fill a vacancy among their ranks.
Lugar doesn’t have to look far to find the reasons. Stating your own case or pleasing your most ardent followers has become more important than doing the people’s business.
We saw yet another example last week. This time the issue was Common Core State Standards, the national school curriculum. Most states have adopted it. Indiana was among the earliest, as Common Core found support from two key Republicans — then-Gov. Mitch Daniels and Tony Bennett, who was state school chief at the time.
Lately, though, states have been reconsidering. Common Core, it turns out, is a complicated matter. Some states will actually take a step backwards in their standards by adopting Common Core.
Indiana “paused” implementing Common Core so a committee of lawmakers could study them. You won’t be surprised to learn the six Republicans and six Democrats on the panel couldn’t agree on whether to keep, change or scrap it.
Last week, House Speaker Brian Bosma of Indianapolis and Senate President David Long of Fort Wayne, both Republicans, said they will direct the Legislature to require the state to create its own set of reading and math standards, according to a report in The Munster Times.
Bosma could have said many things. He could have said there are too many questions about the standards. He could have said his fellow Republicans made a mistake in supporting Common Core. He could have said Indiana students deserve better than Common Core.
Instead, he took a political potshot.
“This phrase ‘Common Core’ has now become such a distraction,” Bosma said. “It is the only thing that approaches the phrase ‘Obamacare’ with concern and violent reaction around the state.”
Obamacare, of course, is full of controversy and is fair game for debate.
But it has nothing to do with Common Core or Indiana educational standards.
Why bring it up? Because it might make the other side look bad.
As long as politicians are rewarded for this kind of behavior, we’ll see fewer people participating in politics.